Tacoma City Grocer to Close

The store opened in 2011 on the Pacific Avenue street level of Pacific Plaza after years of discussion about bringing a grocer to downtown Tacoma. The non-union IGA grocer immediately became the subject of union pickets, which lasted for more than a year, before sign holders were called off in early 2013.

NowThe News Tribune reports that despite a favorable deal on the lease to incent the grocery store, and although the deli was successful, the grocery store operated at a loss for the entire time it was open. Seeing no end in sight to that trend, TCG will close its doors sometime in the next few weeks, leaving downtown Tacoma once again without a grocery store.

According to the TNT, the owners of Pacific Plaza also own all the grocery store fixtures and appliances, and they're looking for a new tenant to take on the challenge.

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nwcolorist

fred davie

Well, I don’t know colorist. Apparently a lot of DT shoppers won’t frequent a non union grocery. So this is a great opportunity for the union supporters to see if their brand of business will prove successful. How will they ever find out if they don’t try?

Ed...

jake

You have to pay to park or remember to get a validation. The selection is pretty basic and overpriced. The staff were not very pleasant and the place seemed like it was being operated like a quickie mart. I visited once and decided to go back to the stadium thriftway.

joe-nate

Founded in 1928 near S. 15th and Broadway in Tacoma (forced to close in 1942 as a result of Executive Order 9066) but reopening in Seattle in the late 1940s after World War II, perhaps it is time for Uwajimaya to reestablish Tacoma ties at Pacific Plaza with a branch store that has an emphasis on unique pan-Asian foods and produce for which customers drive from near and far away to experience at the firm’s Seattle, Bellevue and Beaverton stores. Uwajimaya also operates a small restaurant on Concourse C at Sea-Tac Airport with a fast-deli menu attractive to travelers and office workers. A small Uwajimaya at Pacific Plaza might be a calculated but worthwhile risk for the family-run firm in a Tacoma with market opportunities that gave original rise to the company. Seattle artist Gerard Tsutakawa, who is behind the memorial marker planned for Tacoma Nihongo Gakko on the UW-Tacoma campus, is a nephew of the late Sadako Moriguchi, then a resident of Tacoma Nihonmachi in 1928 who co-founded Uwajimaya there with her husband, Fujimatsu. Uwajimaya might serve a unique market niche in Tacoma. By contrast, Tacoma City Grocery seemed to offer standard fare that could be found elsewhere. One hopes Uwajimaya is listening and has imagination.